French President Macron to Call President Biden over AUKUS Spat

In light of the diplomatic crisis created by the Australia-US submarine deal, French President Emmanuel Macron will call the US President Joe Biden to ask for clarification, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal confirmed on Sunday in an interview with BFM TV

Attal noted that Macron will request explanation regarding the AUKUS trilateral security deal –that also includes the UK- which resulted in Canberra’s decision to cancel its previous arrangement and submarine order with Paris.

According to The Sunday Telegraph report, details of the partnership were discussed at the June G7 summit in Cornwall, but French President Emmanuel Macron was unaware of that and all documents on AUKUS were classified as “top secret” after the summit.

The report adds that despite the warnings that such agreement would harm the relations with Beijing and Paris, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab assisted in the preparation of the agreement.

Meanwhile, France immediately withdrew its ambassadors from the US and Australia while Beijing has accused the three countries of having a Cold War mentality.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian stressed with a dose of irony that Paris has made this decision aware of London’s policy of constant opportunism. He also accused its three allies of duplicity and of major breach of trust and contempt.

Noting the ambassadors are being recalled to re-evaluate the situation, Le Drian underlined that the fact that France is recalling its ambassador from the US for the first time in the history of relations between the two countries shows the magnitude of the crisis that exists now.

Another ‘jilted ‘partner in the situation seem to be New Zealand, which has historically been so close with Australia that the Australian constitution contemplates complete integration of the two countries.

It seems Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has forgotten that fact when lauding AUKUS as a forever partnership for a new time between the oldest and most trusted of friends, excluding New Zealand from that context.